Railway-signal.



' No. 837,613. PATENTED DEC. 4, 1906.

R. E. DIAL.

RAILWAY SIGNAL- APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3. 1906.

Witnesses Unvenlor @1/ MM 6mm.

L 6M7 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT-E. DIAL, F FONTANEL, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T DAYID-GVSYTREAN, or FON'lANE'L INDIANA.

RAIALWAYZSIGNAL.

massacre.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented. Dec. 4, 1906.

TaaZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT E. DIAL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fontanet, in the county of Vigo and State of Indiana, have invented new and useful Imovements in Railway-Signals, of which the ollowing is'a specification. My invention relates to autbmaticrailwaysignals; and it contemplates the 'rovision of IO aratus adapted to be used at crossings, n the hability of accidents.v I

The invention will. be fully understood from the following description and claims when the same are readin connection with the accom drawings, forming part of this spec cation, in which-' Figure-1 is a broken plan view illustrat' 'thecappa'ratus constituting the present an preferred embodiment of m invention as roperly arranged relative: to a crossing:

2 is an elevation of the semaphore-stand the face-plate thereof removed.- Fig. 3 is a transverse section illustrating the means for locking the-se'iia hore-arm in its raised position and for enag' a passing train to unlock said arm, and 41s a detail longitudinal vertical section of the device through the medium of which the semaphore-arm is raised or set.

. Similar. letters designate corresponding f arts in allof the views of the drawings, re-

elring' to =which'- Ais arailway. B is a crossing intersecting the railway,

.5 o mentary. .latch member G, presently described and H is a spring arrangedbetween and coiinected to the latch memberF and the. semaphore-arm D.- The spring H' is I fpreferably-of suchstrengthlthat it will-give:

a simple, inexpensive, and reliab e signal apes, and curves, with a view of lessening when the latch member F is suddenly ulled downward bya fast-moving train, an then after the latch member F is engaged and held by the latch member G said spring H will contract, and thereby raise the semaphorearm D to and retain the same in its raised position. In this way a sudden jerk on the cable E is effectually prevented from injuring the semaphore-arm D and its appurtenances. The latch member G is pivoted at d-in the stand 0, and its lower arm is connected, through the medium of a tractiles ring I, with one arm of a pivoted trigger J, tl ie other arm of which normally rests adjacent to one of the rails of the railway, as best shown in Fig. 3. From this it follows that when a train passes the semaphore-stand 'C subseuent to the locking in its raised osition one of the Wheels of the train-will, y e aging and rocking the of the semaphore-arm I a sheave h and then inward with reference tothe railway to the oint where it is con- 'nected to the vertica y-swinging lever is of the device K, through the medium of which one of the car-wheels of a train is enabled to set or raise the semaphore-arm D in its raised position. In addition to the vertically-swinging lever is the device K comprises a fixed casing Z, Fig. 4, a verticallymovable s ring-supported platform 'm' in the cas' and a swinging member n, piv-' oted in t e casing at p and havim arms 1', carrying antifriction-rollers s, and an upwardlyextending arm t, carrying an antifriction-roller u, and also ha one. or more lugs v disposed under the lever The antifriction-rollers s of the swinging member at bear on the spring-supported platform m,

depressed by a wheel of apassmg tram. of the device K it will be apparent that when the member n, is engaged by a:

4o mit thesaid arm to gravitate to itsidle posiwheel of a train traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 the member a will be swung toward the right, and consequently the lever is will be raised to set or raise the semaphore-arm D. When, however, the swinging member at is engaged by a wheel of a train traveling in the direction opposite to that indicated by arrow, the lever It will not be moved to setor raise the semaphore-arm D, this latter because the. lug or lugs 12 on the swin ing member n are disposed below the lever ,as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

=Nith a view of sounding an alarm when the semaphore-arm D is raised, 1 provide the gong w, the sprin pressed lever-ham mer m, fulcrumed on t e stand (l, and the subca-ble y, connected to the lower arm of the lever-hammer and passed over a sheave 2*. and connected to the cable E. Thus it will be seen that when the cable E is drawn to set or raise the semaphore-arm D the gong to will be struck and audible notice given of the approach of a train. I I

while I have shown'but one device K and one cable E, it is obvious that'in practice two of the devices K and two of the cables E will be employed, the said devices Kbeing arranged at opposite sides of the crossing B and at suitable distances therefrom,

and the device K at the right of the crossing being so arranged that its lever is will be elevated by the wheel of a train traveling in the direction opposite to that indicated I to its lower position.

- through a deep cut, of the proximity of an by the arrow in Fig. 1. It will be noticed, however, that when two devices K and two cables E are employed it is necessary toemploy but one trigger J, inasmuch as each train in passing the semaphore-stand C will.

effect the release of the arm D, so as to pertion.

In the practical operation of the appara tus shown a train moving in the direction indicated by arrow in Fig. 1 swings the. member a of the device K toward the right, and thereby raises the lever 7c, so as to pull the cable E and draw the latch member F down' hand, maybe used to advantage 'for apprising.

an engineer of atrain, at one side of a curve other train at the opposite side, with a view of preventing a head-on collision. The apparatus may also be obviously used to adesaeie. v

vantage in connection with bridges and trestles, the cable E in that event being so arranged as to raise or set the semaphore-arm D when anypart of a bridge ortr estl'e falls, so

as to inform the engineer of an approaching train of the danger.

I have entered into a-detailed description '7 tions may be made in practice as fairly fall .within the scope of my invention as claimed.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, '1s- 1. In a railway signal apparatus, the com bination of a semaphore-stand, a-semaphorearm mounted thereon,- a -latch member connected with the semaphore-arm, a cable connected with the latch member, a device located at a distance .from the semaphorestand and comprising a casing, a spring-supported platform therein, a vertically-swing ing lever connected with the casing and also connected with the cable, and a swinging member bearing upon the platform and having a portion disposed under the verticallyswinging lever, a latch member arranged to enga e and hold the first-mentioned latch mem er when the latter is drawn through the medium of the cable, and a trigger connected with the second-mentioned latch member and arranged to be actuated by a passing train.

2. In a railway signal apparatus, the combination of a semaphore-stand, a semaphorearm mounted thereon, a latch member con-- nected with the semaphore-arm, a latch member arranged to engageand hold the first mentioned latch member when the sema phore-arm is raised, a trigger connected with the second-mentioned latch member and ar-v ranged to be actuated by a passing train,

gong mounted on "the semaphore stand, a

springpressed hammer -lever fulcrumed on the semaphore-stand, a cable connected to the first-mentioned latch member, alconnection intermediate the hammer-lever and said cable, and a device located at a distance from the semaphore-stand and comprising a casing,

a spring-supported platform therein, a vertically-swinging lever connected with the eas ing and also connected'with the cable, and

swinging member connected with the casing and bearing uponthe platform and having a portion disposed under the vertically-swinging lever. A

3. In a railway signal apparatus, a device comprising a casing, a spring-supported platform therein, a vertically-swinging lever, and a swinging member connected with the easing and bearing upon the latform and havplatform and havinga portion disposed under 10 ing a portion isposed un er the verticallythe vertically-swinging lever. swinging lever. In testimonywhereof I have hereunto set 4. In a railway signal apparatus, the commy hand in presence of two subscribing witbination of a movable sema hore, a cable nesses.

connected therewith, and a evice compris- ROBERT E. DIAL. ing a vertically-swinging lever connected Witnesses: with the cable, a spring-s11 ported platform, G. ED. TALLEY,

and a swinging member earing upon the ROBERT GIBBS. 

